Still waiting

Still waiting for my period to raise its ugly head! Its Day 33 today and it should come within the next day or so......

We are on a tight schedule this cycle, because my husband and I have an o/s trip planned starting on 31/10/10, and I need to ensure that this IVF cycle is definetly over by that date. If I was to get sick again with OHSS my cycle of discomfort would be extended for the whole cycle and mine are generally on the long side ie. 32-34 days.

There are no mixed feelings with regards to doing my forth IVF stim cycle........I absolutely hate it! I'm dreading the injections, the bloating, the discomfort, the early 4hr round trip drives every couple of days, the scans, the anxious waiting to see what my ovaries and follies are going to do, the surgery, the recovery, the risk of OHSS, the waiting game to see if your embies are going to make it, or more likely not.

We are not at all good friends, IVF and me - and I've given it more than enough chances!

Made a change

I have made a change I have been thinking about for a little while. When we first started seeing my FS he said that the one coffee a day that I have would not be a problem (caffeine wise). So I continued to have my morning cuppa each day, up until the point of embryo transfer when I would cut it out altogether.

When not doing an IVF cycle at all, on the occasional day I may also have an evening cuppa. That combined with the chocolate eating I have been doing in the last couple of months must mean a more than healthy amount of caffeine being consumed into my already infertile body.

I have been researching making the switch to decaffeinated coffee, so I can continue to have a morning cuppa (like all the 'fertile' people out there) minus the guilt factor. I discovered that in the process of decaffeinating coffee, most companies use quite a lot of chemicals in the process! So all the people out there who have switched to decaf due to less caffeine, are now actually consuming more chemicals than regular coffee.

There are a few brands out there who do organic instant decaf which means that not only is their coffee grown organically, but the process of eliminating the caffeine is also chemical free. My lovely husband found one such brand for me at Coles, (after we had already looked at Woolies and IGA) and I tried it out last night - thinking it may take a while to get used to..........

Not at all! Its great! Slightly different taste to my normal coffee - but so far I'm glad I made the switch! I think I'll stay on this one all through my journey to conceive and then journey to keep a pregnancy (fingers crossed I get another chance), and who knows - maybe even after then, because it is the healthier alternative.

An open window...

Well yesterday morning we got up early and made the trip to see our FS. He requested we have an appointment with him before we were ready to start our next cycle of IVF (which unfortunately is only a few weeks away - maybe 3).

He went back over the details of what our next cycle would be like:

Antagonist cycle - no syneral - injections once daily, then gradually twice daily and then on one day 3 injections as the trigger injection will be given.

He discussed the possibility of OHSS and how it can't be ruled out, but why we are going to do the cycle we are and how that may assist in reducing the possibility of it.

He also again discussed the issues with a fresh transfer with me and my increased chances of OHSS worsening if I fall pregnant (cos I seem to be prone to it) and also seemed to open the window with a multiple transfer slightly, which I was not expecting. He said basically that the cycle would be played by ear, however when and if it comes to a frozen transfer (and assuming we get more than one blastie) he may consider transferring two embryo's!!!!! Well now I think about it, he did exactly say it that way either, but he did mention putting two back - which he has never mentioned in a possible light before.

The reason it is semi exciting is because a psychic long ago told me that my first pregnancy would be twins and that I may need IVF to get there. Ever since, I have been wondering how the hell it can happen when the clinic is so strict with their single transfer policy (which I know can split to twins).

I hope and pray that this cycle is a winner in so many ways, but at least to not get sick, and have at least one embie make it to a healthy blastie and survive the freeze and thaw........oh and maybe a nine month pregnancy thrown in too would be good!